The car Nie Xu was driving looked understated, but the back seat was spacious.
It traveled smoothly along the road, with barely a hint of a bump.
Sitting in the back, Ji Yang watched the neon lights flashing past outside the window. In their shifting glow, he could see the driver putting his sunglasses back on, the sharp contours of half his profile clearly defined.
Ji Yang wasn’t someone who cared much about social hierarchy, let alone someone who automatically considered himself superior to others. He certainly didn’t think it was appropriate to make the person who could decide whether he lived or died serve as his chauffeur.
With the intention of taking the initiative to communicate and maintain a friendly relationship, he asked, “Is this car bulletproof?”
He looked over the seats, picking a topic he was genuinely a little curious about.
“Wei Qiming doesn’t have the guts to hijack a car,” Nie Xu replied.
Ji Yang froze for a moment. “…That wasn’t what I meant.”
Using a sledgehammer to kill a chicken just to guard against Wei Qiming? That would be overkill.
Nie Xu glanced at the rearview mirror and added, “Jiang Lei just paid for this car as the family’s new vehicle. His nephew is starting kindergarten, and today was its first day on the road.”
And then, to repay a certain someone, he’d earned himself a full-day tour of the police station.
Ji Yang understood the unspoken meaning behind those words and rubbed his nose.
In his rather simplistic understanding, bodyguards were the kind of people in novels who were mentioned in passing and appeared only during major events—a group of human weapons who rarely seemed capable of forming emotional attachments. Nie Xu didn’t count, because he had other identities besides that one. But those identities were even more synonymous with merciless cruelty.
It suddenly occurred to Ji Yang that people in this profession, despite having their private time and personal lives severely restricted, still had lives of their own. They had families, relatives, old friends, and people they cared about.
Looking back, he felt a little relieved that he’d sent Nie Xu that message.
Not to save his own leg, nor to change the original plot’s ending. It was simply so that a child could happily ride to kindergarten instead of facing a workplace accident at such a young age—perhaps even losing his life.
Ji Yang had always been more forgiving toward children.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t had many good memories of his own childhood. There must have been some, but they had become blurred with the passage of time.
Most of what he remembered was life in the old apartment block: the middle-aged woman next door loudly cursing her husband for never going to work; neighbors smiling at him with a gossipy tone as they asked, “Xiao Yang, why have you been coming home so often lately?”
As he climbed the stairs, he would reply with a slightly wicked smile, “Auntie, I just saw your second son pulling up the Wang family’s garlic shoots at the entrance to the alley.”
That would be followed by a string of shouts from behind as she chased after the little brat to give him a piece of her mind.
The neighborhood gossip wasn’t anything new.
“What is Ji Yang doing these days? Isn’t he supposed to be studying?”
Someone else would chime in, “You know what his old man is like—a gambling, drinking, womanizing drunk. When this kid was little, he was cut from exactly the same cloth. Maybe he got beaten so badly that he nearly died that one year, and that’s what straightened him out. He left home in his teens. Apparently, he signed with an agency because he was good-looking and has been supporting himself ever since. What’s that saying? A good bamboo shoot can grow from bad bamboo!”
“Everyone has a different fate. Look at that woman upstairs, the one raising a child alone… I just wonder who Ji Yang’s mother is…”
Some things could be selectively ignored.
People didn’t have to dwell on the past, nor did they need to make assumptions about what might have been.
By the time he transmigrated into this novel, he had owned a fully paid-off home, had six figures in savings, plenty of friends, and an account that had just reached a million followers. He also had a bunch of antis who cursed him daily for relying on his looks while continuing to shower him with gifts.
Staying alive came first.
Being happy came second.
Everything else came after that.
He was used to adapting to whatever problems life threw at him, which was why he’d accepted his transmigration into a melodramatic novel so quickly.
And because he hated passively waiting for things to happen, he’d spent this short period dealing with one person after another and handling one situation after another, always in the process of resolving, managing, or otherwise responding to things—sometimes proactively, sometimes reactively.
The important thing was that his limited mobility was a very real fact, one that couldn’t be changed.
After two days, it would be a lie to say he hadn’t felt like cursing the whole world.
That was, until tonight.
After facing Nie Xu again, he finally realized that the man wasn’t quite the person he’d imagined—the one who would only ever say, “Break his legs.”
At the very least, when Nie Xu mocked people, he was remarkably good at keeping a straight face.
Once Ji Yang realized this, he couldn’t help grinning.
Someone who had emotions, and who could be emotionally affected by other people, wasn’t likely to break his legs for no reason. Nor was he some overbearing CEO from a novel who would coldly announce, “The heavens are about to punish you,” while casually destroying an entire family.
So when the car stopped and Nie Xu said, “We’re here,” Ji Yang instinctively replied, “That was fast!”
A second later, he realized what he’d said and hurriedly corrected himself. “Oh, no, I mean, I can’t walk.”
That was still too stiff. Even though Ji Yang’s tone had softened, his expression remained numb.
“I just wanted to say that I really don’t have a leg. You wouldn’t mind carrying me one more time, would you?”
Before a predator catches its prey, revealing a weakness at the right moment can help lower the other party’s guard.
But when Ji Yang looked up and met Nie Xu’s face, still concealed behind his sunglasses, he couldn’t tell when the man’s murderous intentions might emerge.
Recognizing the silent refusal, Ji Yang gave up.
“Could you get me my wheelchair, then?”
Nie Xu tapped the steering wheel with his index finger, one hand, and looked at him.
“Wait a moment,” he said before turning back around.
Just then, someone knocked on the car window.
Nie Xu rolled it down, and Ji Yang finally realized they were at the entrance to the estate. Not far away stood a group of people wearing black mesh-patterned tactical uniforms, conducting checks.
“Brother Xu? It’s you!”
The man who had knocked on the window looked surprised when he saw who was inside, then broke into a smile.
“I was wondering who was driving this car in the middle of the night. It hasn’t even been registered.”
“It’s Lei’s car. I’ll drive it away tomorrow,” Nie Xu replied.
He lifted his chin toward the front. “What’s going on?”
The other man seemed in no hurry anymore. He let out a sigh. “Who knows? Apparently, something happened to a shipment at the docks during the day, and the other side came over to argue about it. It’s the usual story: the big shots fight upstairs, and we little guys suffer downstairs.”
As he spoke, he pointed upward.
“They say the Old Master is furious. Although we’re working under Mr. Lu Li’s name, we’re just a bunch of people doing inspections and running errands. Nothing like you guys, Brother Xu.”
The flattery was quite convincing. As he spoke, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and offered it to Nie Xu.
At the same time, he asked ingratiatingly, “I heard someone got hurt. You know about that, don’t you, Brother Xu?”
Ji Yang had remained silent in the back seat the entire time.
From the moment he heard the words shipment at the docks, he realized that this matter must have something to do with Nie Xu.
He saw Nie Xu reach out and accept the cigarette, leaning back against his seat. It even seemed as though he gave a low chuckle.
He laughed?
Ji Yang revised his impression of him yet again.
“I know,” Nie Xu replied.
The other man said, “Then give your brothers a little inside information. Look at us, standing here checking everyone without even knowing exactly what we’re supposed to be looking for. Give me a hint, and I can at least let the guys get some rest earlier.”
Nie Xu rested the hand holding the cigarette on the window ledge. When the other man moved to light it for him, he raised his hand slightly and avoided the flame, indicating that there was no need.
“You don’t smoke?” The man paused, then said, “Even during your private time, you’re still so disciplined.”
“I’m working.”
At this time of night, in a place like this, the words I’m working naturally led the other man to assume they were both working on the same matter.
He looked around. “You’ve got people deployed here too? And you even came in person in the middle of the night, Brother Xu?”
Only after he finished speaking and failed to spot anyone else did he belatedly react. He looked toward the back seat.
When the man looked over, Ji Yang waved at him at just the right moment, watching as the other man’s eyes widened little by little.
“Hi.”
“F-Fourth Young Master?”
The man clearly hadn’t expected Ji Yang to be sitting in the back seat of this car at this exact moment. After a long pause, he cautiously asked, “Are you still assigning Brother Xu work in the middle of the night? Was Brother Xu with you all afternoon, Fourth Young Master?”
Ji Yang’s eyes curved into a smile.
“Isn’t that perfectly normal? Right now, I’m his job. His one and only job.”
The corners of the man’s mouth twitched when he heard that.
Nie Xu didn’t seem to care what Ji Yang said. He continued answering the man’s earlier question.
“The people injured at the docks weren’t our own. There was a third party there to receive the shipment. The matter has been settled, but there’s something wrong with the cargo.”
“Something wrong with the cargo?” The man composed himself, lowering his voice.
Nie Xu had no intention of saying much more. He replied meaningfully, “If Lu Li wants to know anything else, he can come ask me in person next time.”
At those words, the smile on the man outside the window froze into an awkward, stiff curve.
Nie Xu tossed the car keys to him.
“You’re just doing your job. I won’t drive this car inside tonight. Find somewhere to park it for me.”
The man hurriedly caught the keys and took a moment before replying, “Sure.”
Two minutes later, Ji Yang was sitting in his wheelchair as Nie Xu pushed him forward.
The wheelchair used at the Ji family estate was naturally well-made, with excellent performance. Its tires rolled over the stone-paved path, making only the faintest sound.
Behind them, the man who had just spoken to Nie Xu continued staring in the direction they had gone.
Someone beside him leaned closer and asked quietly, “Are we really just letting them leave like that? Didn’t Mr. Lu say that if there was a problem with the shipment, it had to be Nie Xu’s doing?”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” The man had dropped his obsequious underling act by now, a hint of viciousness appearing on his face. “He knows that we know, too. He was just toying with us!”
“But…” The person beside him hadn’t finished speaking before he was interrupted again.
“What kind of person do you think Nie Xu is? Mr. Lu suffered a major defeat at his hands this time, and even the Old Master can’t do anything to him. He won’t let anyone get their hands on evidence against him that easily.”
The man beside him nodded. “Then should we tell Mr. Lu that Fourth Young Master showed up? Could he be involved in this, too?”
“Do you think that’s possible?” The man turned his head slowly to look at him. “Everyone knows that useless young master is in love with Nie Xu. For his sake, he even made a scene with the Third Young Master from the eldest branch in front of the Old Master. Who knows what goes through his head at this hour of the night? There’s no need to make trouble for ourselves.”
As he spoke, a look of contemptuous satisfaction appeared on his face.
“After all, being born into a high-ranking family does have its advantages. Even if you’re a cripple.”
He spoke the words even if you’re a cripple softly and slowly.
Then he let out a sneer.
It was as though saying those words could somehow straighten his own back by another couple of inches after he’d just been forced to bow it.
Meanwhile, Ji Yang was looking up at the man behind him.
“You never intended to drive the car inside from the beginning, did you?”
“Mm.” Nie Xu’s answer served as confirmation.
Ji Yang curled the corners of his mouth into a smile. “Was I useful?”
“Weren’t you rather concerned about protecting your chastity?” Nie Xu lowered his head and countered.
“Being involved with you doesn’t count as losing my chastity.” Ji Yang made a heart shape with both hands over his chest. “It means I’m doing it willingly.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the wheelchair stopped.
Ji Yang threw his head back and burst into laughter in the nearly frozen atmosphere.
In the original plot, after Jiang Lei’s accident, the tension within the Ji family would have grown increasingly intense. When “Ji Yang” learned that Ji Chengyi had gone to the hospital to visit Jiang Lei, he would have followed him there, mocked Jiang Lei by saying he deserved what had happened, and hurled all sorts of outrageous insults at Nie Xu, including things like, “This is what you get for choosing Ji Chengyi.”
He would have perfectly fulfilled yet another KPI for a brainless villain.
Now, none of that would happen.
Or rather, some of it had still happened quietly, but with the added backstory of “turning love into hatred,” Ji Yang’s carefully constructed persona of someone who had loved so deeply that he’d lost his reason had produced a remarkable effect, like a flurry of random punches somehow defeating a seasoned martial arts master.
Some things, once hidden beneath absurdity, became reasonable even when they made no sense.
It was a delicate balance.
Ji Yang could sense it. After all, Nie Xu hadn’t stopped him from talking nonsense at the gate just now.
Once Ji Yang had laughed enough, he straightened up and gestured for Nie Xu to let go.
By now, the people at the gate were out of sight. Ji Yang tried switching his wheelchair to electric mode. He had only been introduced to it that morning and hadn’t had time to explore its functions.
The result was that he suddenly shot forward.
One good thing about this estate was that the paths were wide and flat.
An occasional loss of control wouldn’t send him tumbling into a ditch.
Ji Yang managed to stop himself just in time. After steadying himself for a moment, he continued experimenting: turning in circles, moving left and right, going forward and backward, and applying the brakes.
This high-tech wheelchair helped him learn to adapt even faster than the rows of prosthetic limbs had.
Ji Yang noticed that whenever he looked back, Nie Xu was always about two steps behind him. Not an inch closer, and not a bit farther away.
They were already inside the estate. Was it really necessary to stay so close?
His professional discipline was truly astonishing.
It wasn’t until he rounded a corner that Ji Yang realized Nie Xu hadn’t followed.
He stopped and looked back.
Ji Yang said, “Come on.”
Then he saw the man lower his sunglasses with his index finger, frown, and look at him as though examining some new species he couldn’t understand.
“Where are you going?” Nie Xu asked.
Ji Yang was baffled. “Back to sleep? It’s almost two in the morning.”
Nie Xu seemed to find this absurd. “To sleep in Building Four?”
Ji Yang glanced in the direction he’d been heading and froze for a moment. In the span of two seconds, he happily decided to accept this beautiful misunderstanding.
“Should I take that as an invitation?”
Nie Xu looked at him for two seconds.
Then he said, “The last bed in Building Four has been given to a stray cat that wandered over from the neighboring villa area.”
In other words, there wasn’t even a bed next door available for him.
In the darkness, Ji Yang murmured eerily, “Then I really have to go take a look. I want to see whether the cat that dared to steal my bed is male or female.”